The invention relates to a shopping cart apparatus for transporting merchandise including groceries and the like within, to and from a store such as a supermarket or the like.
Traditionally, customers have used shopping carts comprising a relatively deep wire basket on a wheeled frame to convey groceries from their location on self-serve shelves in a supermarket to a check-out station. Once the customer arrives at the check-out station, the groceries are unloaded from the shopping cart by the customer onto a conveyor belt. The groceries are then typically passed over a bar code scanner or weighed by a cashier, and placed onto a receiving table. The groceries are then loaded into paper or plastic bags by the cashier, or alternatively "bagged" by the customer or a bag boy. The bags of groceries are then usually placed back into the shopping cart, and the shopping cart is pushed by the customer or the bag boy to the shopper's vehicle, and the bags of groceries are unloaded from the cart into the vehicle. The bags of groceries are then unloaded from the customer's vehicle and carried into the customer's premises.
The use of a traditional shopping cart in combination with plastic or paper bags as described above entails a number of inconveniences. In the case of shopping carts having relatively deep wire baskets, occasionally softer grocery items placed near the bottom of the baskets are crushed or otherwise damaged by heavier items placed thereon. Having to unload the grocery items one-by-one from the basket onto the check-out belt is a time consuming process, and often the cashier begins ringing up the customer's order before the customer finishes the unloading task, leaving the customer no opportunity to observe the cashier. Sometimes an experienced cashier is able to organize the groceries to some extent as they are being bagged, but often the groceries are placed into bags in an unorganized fashion. Further, when the bags of groceries are loaded into or unloaded from the customer's vehicle, the bags of groceries from time to time tip over or rip, spilling their contents. And from the store's point of view, providing an endless supply of plastic or paper bags is costly and detrimental to the environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,578 issued to Davidson et al. on Apr. 20, 1993, shows a shopping cart usable with containers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,263 issued to Davidson et al. on May 18, 1993 shows an improved check-out system.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart which can be used with removable containers as discussed in the '578 patent or with conventional bags or sacks or the like, so as to be universally useful.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a cart wherein receptacles for goods have a shallower depth than the baskets of conventional shopping carts so as to avoid damage to articles placed therein.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide such a cart which is nestable with other like carts for storage.
Other objects and advantages will appear hereinbelow.